Injection molding machine



April 1940- cs. w. WACKER INJECTION MOLDING MACHINE Filed Aug. 16, 1937 INV E NTOR.

ATTORNEY.

66086.6 /AlyaA fz BYW poration of Kentucky '7 Claims.

fMyfinvention relates to plastic extrusion machines, and in particular to mechanism for regulating the amount of plastic material fed to n the extrusionmechanism. It is the object of this invention to provide mechanism so that granulated plastic material can be automatically fed into'an injection chamberfromwhich it is expelled into a mold. Prior 1 to the expulsion, it is heated into a plastic condltionq j j The object oi this invention is to insure an amplejsupplyo fp materialjn the injection chamber to properly fillthe mold at all times. The problem is complicated by the fact that the exact amount 5 oflrnaterial term the; mold cannot alwaysjbe fed,; becausethereare minute changes in the quan tity of the material fed for each plunger stroke,

due to variations in the bulk of the material.

M p The object or t invention is to remedyf the troubles heretofor experi in solving this preblem. This solution o fthe present invention In kes no efiort to feed an exact and constantly yingtcharge. Its object, to the contrary, is toiprovide twoYdifferent-lpredetermined and un- I changingirates of feed,\one of which is an overteed andythe other anunderfeed; The overfeed enemie more material thanis necessary to fill l the mold, and the underfeedsupplies insufiicient materialto fill the mold on each plunger stroke.

r The amount ofover or under feed is arbitrarily dec ed by the machine operator according to the conditions L under which the machine is operate wtm: thereafter, this invention automatically selectsithe oyerfeed or iunderfeed to meet the operating conditions solestablished. V

Referring tothedrawing:

Figurel is a sideelevationofthe mechanismof this invention illustrated diagrammatically) Figure 2 is a detailed view of the ratchet and pawl connection of the ifeed lever to one of the belt-supportsbf the feed belt. a

Referring to the drawing l is a hopper for granular m al-remnan having bottom opening ontrolled fby ayslide3, pivoted at 4 on a slide 55K pressedjprior to injection into a mold through I Application August 16, 1937, se ial No. 159,245

1(01. 18-30) v l p '9 l the pulley Ill. Thus when the plunger is re-. tracted the belt is moved forwardly one step to gaging with the cam 36. The outer end of this lever 41 engages with the bottom 50 of these v v p p ing withthe nut 25a, on the rod 25. ontrolling lever 5, whichis pivoted at 6. This i Its plunger moves'into empty injection chamber the full extent of'its stroke.

PATENT OFFICE a f a V l i George W. Wacker, Cincinnati, Ohio, assignor to T l i The Grotelite Company, BellevueuKygfa corthe noz zle l4. plunger l5 brings about this in-; jection. The plunger is suitably actuated through hydraulic fluid in the cylinder l6. This plunger carries a pair of spaced collars ll be-' el tween which operate the pin l8 of a plunger lever l9. This lever is pivoted atZU on a block 2 l It is provided with an extension 22 which engages the block 23 to limit its movement. The upper end of this lever is provided with an eye 24 throughjwhich passes the clamp release rod 25;, There is connected to the lever I9 a crank arm 26, to which is pivoted at Z! a pitman, the upper end of which is providedwith a pawl 29 engaging in-; termittently with the ratchet 30 associated with feed the granular material to a predetermined amount. 1

Returning to the lever l 9, there is pivoted to it at 3! the pitman 32 thathas a slot end 33 for receivingthe pin 34 This pin is mounted upon a cam carrying lever 35, which carries a selector cam 36,- having the faces 31 and 38. The lever 35 is pivoted at j39upo n an ear 40 of the bracket 4|, This bracket [carriesa stop 42 which is engaged by shoulder 43 of the lever 35. This shoulder is spring pressed by the spring 44 which is carried on the abutment 45 of the lever 35. The spring serves to hold themembers 42 and 43 against one another until the cam 36, which is pivotally.

mounted on the lever 35 and upon the supporting shaft 39, is pressed backwardly as hereinafter l described. Thereis also pivoted on this bracket 4! at 46 a lever 41 having acam roller 48 enlector rod M which vertically reciprocates in the end of the bracket tl This reciprocation is controlled and resisted by a icamcarried on the locking member 52, whichis' spring pressed in one di- I Operation Assuming the operator has set the machine for a predetermined feed; that is, a predetermined amount of over or under feed, then the automatic selector mechanism operates as follows: the

l3. As it meets with no resistance, it travels to In so doing, it has rotated the selector cam 36 tothe limit of its pos sible movement being translated to it from the lever l9 by the connecting rod or pitman 32. As the selector cam 36 is made up of the sprin loaded cam proper 3B and the lever 35, when the cam is rotated sufliciently, the stepof the cam comes into contact and engages the roller as shown in Figure 1. This act meets with a certain resistance, partly caused by the frictional lock 52 engaging the selector rod 5|. The continued movement of the lever is possible with the cam 36 remaining stationary, until theaccumulated pressure of the cam spring 44 overcomes the pressure of the roller, and the roller 48 with theselector rod 5| is forced upward. The object of the spring load cam is to positively provide for only two definite operative positions for the cam rod, so that it will not be possible for the cam roller 48 to dwell part way up the incline of the cam leading to the step. This upward motion im parted to the rod 5| by the cam 36is transferred through the lever 5 to the slide 3 so as to place the slide at its upper position. The selector rod chamber H of the injection cylinder l3.

5! holds this position due to the action of the fI'iC". tional lock 52 provided forv thispurpose. The plunger now starts on the return movement, rotating the selector cam 36 so that the, roller 48 now rides on the lower step, of the cam. The cam rod 5i remains in its upper position temporarily.

The return movement of the. plunger l5 has operated the belt feed- 8, as heretofore described, through the lever 26, 28;"paw1 29, and the ratchet 30. It delivers a definite overcharge of material 'into'the injection chamber 53. Just before the plunger 15 completes the return stroke, the frictional-clamp 52 holdingthe cam rod is released by the release .rod 25. The slide 3 then assumes its lower or underfeed position. This sequence When the surplus material has accumulated, due

to overfeed to an undesirable amount, the travel of the plunger E5 on the forwardstroke is lessened gins again.

due to stalling on the accumulation. event the rotated movement of the selector cam 36 is no longer sufiicient to compress the cam spring 46 to the point where it can overcome the pressure of the selector rod 5!. As a result of this, the rod is no longer moved upwardly, but remains in the lower selective position. In this way the lower or underfeed position has been automatically selected. The feed now delivers a re-v stricted amount of material, that is, an undercharge, to the injection chamber l3, and each succeeding stroke of the plunger I5 now forces out more material than is fed in. The result is l that the plunger [5 moves into the chamber I3 further and further'until the selector cam 36 is again tripped and. the over charging cycle beoperation' of this mechanism: the overfeed cycle and the underfeed cycle. The transition from one cycle to the other and the selective operation of the 'mechanism as a result thereof, depend upon theresult of overfeeding or underfeeding so that there is always more .material than necessary to: fill a :mold, and whenthe. lower limit 7 of This is indl- In this Q There are there fore twocycles of what is a safe excess to have in the injection chamber l3 has been reached, then the cycle of overfeeding begins. I

It will be understood that I desire to comprehend within this invention such modifications as may benecessary to adapt it to varying conditions and uses.

Having thus fully described my invention, what Iclaim as new and desirefto secure by Letters Patent, is: i

1. In combination, a material container, an injection chamber, an injector movable in said chamber, a feeder for feeding, material from said container to said injection chamber, means for operating said' feeder, a feed regulator for con-' trolling delivery of material from said container in one position at apredetermined substantially constant underfeed rate and in another position at a predetermined substantially constant overfeed rate, means responsive to the travel of said injector beyond apredetermined length of stroke for shifting said feed regulator from its underfeed position to itsoverfeed position, and means for shifting said feed regulator back to its underfeed position. a H

2. In combination, amaterial container, an injection chamber, an injector movable in said chamber, a-feeder for feeding material from said container to said injection. chamber, means for operating said feeder, a fed regulator for controlling delivery of material from said. container in one. position at a predetermined substantially constant underfeed rate and inanother position at a predetermined substantially constant overfeed rate, means responsive to the travel of said injector beyond a predeterminedlength-of stroke for shifting said feed regulatorifrom its underfeed position to its overfeed position, and means responsive to the retraction of said injector for shifting said feed regulator back to its underfeed position.

3. In combination, a material container, an in- 'jection' chamber, an injector movable in said chamber, a feeder for feeding materialfrom said container to said injection chamber-,means operatively connected to said injector and responsive to the motion thereof for operating'said feeder, a feed regulator for controlling delivery of material from said container in one position at a predetermined substantially constant underfeed rate and in anotherposition at apredetermined substantially" constant overfeed rate, means responsive to the travel of said injector beyond a predetermined length of stroke for. shifting said feed regulator from itsunderfeed position to its overfeed position, and means for shifting said feed regulator back to its underfeed position.

4. In combinationpa material container, an

injection .chamber, an injector movable in said chamber, a feeder for feeding material from said container to'said injection chamber, means for operating saidfeeder, a feed regulator for controlling delivery of material from said container in one position at a predetermined substantially constant underfeed rate and in another'position at a predetermined substantially'constant over-. feed rate, means including a cam and mechanism operated thereby responsive to the travel of said injector beyond a predetermined length .of stroke for shifting said feed ,regulator from its underfeed position to its overfeed position, and means for shifting said feed regulator back to its underfeed position.

5. In combinatioma material container, anin:

injection chamber, an injector movable in said ,chamber, a feeder for feeding material from said container to said injection chamber, means for operating said feedena feed regulatorfor controlling deliveryof material from said container in one position at a predeterminedsubstantially constant underfeed rate and in another position at a predetermined substantially constant over-" feed rate, means responsive to the travel of said injector beyond a predetermined length of stroke for shifting said feed regulator from its underieed position to its overfeed position, means for releasably holding said feed regulator in its overfeed position, and means for releasing said holding means to shift said feed regulator back to i, itsunderfjeed position.

6., In combination, a material container, an injection chamber, an injector movable in said chamber, a feeder for feeding material from said container to said injection chamber means for operating said feeder, a feed regulatorfor controllingdelivery of material fromsaid container in lone position at a predetermined substantially constant underfeed rate and in another position at a predeterminedsubstantially constant overfeed rate, mechanism including a cam, a cam foli lowervoperatively connected to said feed regulatoiga cam actuator operatively connected to said injector, and a yielding element between said cam and said cam actuator, said mechanism being responsive to the travel of said injector beyond a predetermined length of stroke for shifting said feed regulator from its underfeed posijtion to its overfeed position; and means for shifting said feed regulator back to its underfeed position. i

7. In combination, a material container, an in- ,jection chamber, an injector movable in said chamber, a feeder for feedingmaterial from said container to said injection chamber, means for operating said feeder, a feed regulator for controlling delivery of material from said container in one position at a predetermined substantially constant underfeed rate and in another position at a predetermined substantially constant overfeed rate, mechanism including a cam, a cam follower operatiyely connected to said feed regulator, a cam actuator operatively connected to said injector, and, a yielding element between said cam and said cam actuator, said mechanism being responsive to the travel of said injector GEORGE, w. WACKER. 30 

